Dita Von Teese is one of the most beautiful and sexy women alive today. She is a SuicideGirls favorite for her breakthrough work in burlesque performance, fetish posing and being married to a music icon. Her famous figure can be found on display all over the internet and fetish magazines but now she has showcased her humor and intelligence in the double sided book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese.

DVT: Good, I get real nervous about those people that write things down.

DRE: Im an Internet writer. We never put anything down on paper.

DVT: Oh good. British journalists, as they like to call themselves, like to write down everything in their own words.

DRE: Yeah. You just came back from the UK, right?

DVT: Im always really just coming back from there though. Im on my way there on Tuesday. Thats probably where I work the most.

DRE: Why is that?

DVT: Im more famous there. Im in the tabloids and the newspapers on a regular basis there. Maybe thats why. So therefore I get booked at more events. Also our dollar is weak there.

DRE: I read your last SuicideGirls interview and the book was meant to come out a while ago. Why did it get delayed?

DVT: It took a lot more time than we expected to secure all the rights to the photos. Also its published by Regan Books and they seem to have a high employee turnaround rate. So I went through like eight editors which made the process much longer. But I think the timings actually better than ever and I feel like everything has worked out the way that it should.

DRE: Why did the photos of you have to be cleared?

DVT: I dont own all of my images. Its important to me to retain ownership of a lot of my images that I shoot for my website especially, but we wanted to include the pictures that Ellen von Unwerth has taken and a lot of other famous photographers. We wanted to include all these photos that I did for fashion magazines and also with Playboy. I wanted to use a really broad range of photos. I didnt want to be limited and its difficult sometimes to get clearance for those images. I did have to do a little bit of begging every now and then. I felt free to call people and ask them Please, oh please, can I use that picture? Usually the people that you have to do that with are the ones that arent very famous. I had the hardest time with people that werent high-paid, big-name photographers. The people that get finicky over their images are the ones that shouldnt be as much.

DRE: Thats really funny.

DVT: Yeah. Somebody that took just photos of my show that I did in some small town somewhere and was really funny about letting me use the images.

DRE: Youre like Who do you think you are?

DVT: I try not to use that Who do you think you are language. But its a little bit like Well, I let you photograph my show. I didnt let anyone else shoot it. I let you shoot it.

DRE: I saw the Asia Argento movie your husband is in.

DVT: Oh yeah. I havent seen that one yet actually.

DRE: Its really painful but beautiful.

DVT: I think he lost interest in it when he found out it wasnt a true story. We felt duped because we met J.T. Leroy and everything.

DRE: Its almost embarrassing.

DVT: Yeah. I read the book cover to cover in one sitting and I have a hard time looking back and thinking, Why did somebody make this up? Why make up more ugliness in the world when theres so much already? I dont know why someone would write something like that for kicks.

DRE: Obviously there are two sides to your book with the fetish and burlesque. Do you look at what you do as having two sides?

DVT: Yes, I do but I feel like theyre all relative as well. It was difficult to separate the two because there are so many fetishistic elements in the burlesque side and classic nostalgic pin-up elements in the fetish side. I feel like theyre all very similar but I thought it would be interesting thing to write two stories. Its all about the photos, but I wanted to write text in it. I wanted to explain what I think about burlesque and how I see it and why I got into it and the same thing with fetishism. I wanted people to see it in another light because you hear people talk about burlesque a lot. They talk about how its art and it was all beautiful and it was all good girls and that it was a kinder, gentler time but in reality it wasnt really that way. I think people have lost sight of that because a lot of women that are performing neo burlesque now want to make sure that people think theyre not a stripper because theyre afraid of that word. I feel like people are trying to candy coat it a little bit even though in reality burlesque was a pretty risqu show in its time. They were bouncing around in G-Strings and pasties in the 30s and I think people forget how racy it was. Also with fetishism I felt like so many people look at fetishism as being about bootlicking and hurting people and whips and chains. I want to portray an elegant fetishism. One of the things that I love is that I want to know the history about everything Ive become involved with whether its fashion or hair or makeup and movies. I like knowing about how old movies were made, how things have changed and how theyre made now. I think its interesting to look at the past.

DRE: Do you see burlesque as a fetish as well?

DVT: Well because I started doing what I do in 1990 and everyones talking about the Bettie Page movie right now and its 16 years later. I feel like the fetishists have always gotten burlesque and understood burlesque a little bit better than the rest of the world. It takes the mainstream a long time to accept something or to even discover it. To me theyre similar because fetishists have always appreciated corset wearing and girls in girdles and women with a nostalgic, fetish look. Thats why I think that theres a parallel with burlesque and fetishism.

DRE: I read that you never wear sweatpants, is that true?

DVT: I dont wear sweatpants as casual wear. I have sweatpants that I sell on my site that are real cute that have my martini glass logo. I wear them over my costume to keep my legs warm when Im getting ready for a show. But I dont look at sweatpants as fashion. A lot of people think thats something you should pick out as fashion but its not for me. I dont really like dressing that way. If I want to be comfortable, Ill wear a cashmere robe or a little vintage slip. I feel like you see all these girls walking around wearing UGG Boots and sweatpants which they spent a fortune on. I dont understand why they put forth so much effort to look casual.

DRE: It sounds like you were very hands on with your book.

DVT: I wanted to be because people have done other books about me and Ive seen the end result. I really wanted this book to be something where I could turn every page and be proud of it. I think its a good overview of my work over the past 16 years. Im working on another book because I have lots of books I want to do. Eventually when Im 70 Ill write my scathing autobiography and dish all the dirt on everyone.

DRE: Thatll be really interesting. I cant wait.

DVT: Itll be awhile.

DRE: The text in your book was obviously secondary to the photos but it was still really interesting. It is almost a how-to book.

DVT: Yeah. I wanted it to be a fun, light, easy read. I think I had that instilled in my brain because they tried to make me take the text out. They said, No ones going to read it. They just want to look at the pictures. I thought they might be right but Im glad they left it in because it turns out a lot of people are enjoying it.

I had a hard time writing the book and thinking Oh, theres going to be people that are going to hate that I wrote this. I had to come to terms with the fact that not everything is going to be what everyone agrees with. People arent always going to agree with what I have said or what I condone. A lot of women are going to say, I dont have time to put on red lipstick and high heels everyday. Im thinking, But Im just writing what I like and why I like it. Whenever you try to appeal to everyone, you cannot win and youll never win. So I wrote it the way I wanted to write it.

DRE: Cosmo magazine is a hell of a lot worse than anything you wouldve written.

DVT: Yeah, but its different. When a girls reading Cosmo its different. Theyre reading it as a general thing. But when someones reading what I wrote and the whole book is my opinion on everything, then there might be some stuff they dont like.

DRE: When you first said theres going to be a few people upset I thought it might be because youre giving away all the good secrets or something like that.

DVT: No. There were some things my editor hesitated at me writing about like Chinese foot binding and things like that. They were really afraid of a few things. But I thought, Well Im writing about fetishism. I have to talk about all different angles of it. I was surprised of the things they wanted me to take out, but in the end I left everything the way that I wanted it.

DRE: You wrote a list of your favorite perverts, if that was in descending order then seamed stocking fetishists are your favorites.

DVT: Yeah. Ive met so many of these fetishists over the years and I love talking to them and hearing them describe their fetish and reading their letters to me. I really enjoy those people.

DRE: You wrote that you learn of a new fetish everyday.

DVT: Well, almost everyday. I learned of a new one the other day though.

DRE: What was it?

DVT: I have this gentleman who writes me letters about his fantasies where I wear the rarest and exotic furs in the world. He writes that I should be wearing the rarest animals and birds and enjoying their beauty. Hes really obsessed with fur and the rarer, the better.

DRE: Thats an expensive fetish.

DVT: More than that, thats one that really upsets people too. Im definitely not condoning that I want to go out and club a bunch of seals or something. He wrote out a script of what hed like to see me doing, like rolling around on these exotic furs. At the end of his letter he wrote Dita, have you ever littered? I would be so turned on at the sight of an elegantly dressed woman just throwing trash out into the green meadow. I thought, Wow. Ive never heard of a littering fetish. But he went on to describe that he would love to see a video of me throwing trash out of my car or throwing trash on the grass while Im dressed in high heels, stockings and a beautiful dress. I dont understand that one but I love hearing about it.

DRE: It sounds like hes into really rich women.

DVT: Personally I would never litter. I get really upset when people litter.

DRE: Youre okay with fur but the littering is a no go.

DVT: Im okay with some fur and Im okay with my vintage fur. Ive put a halt with my personal self on actively bringing new fur into my life. But thats my choice. Im never going to be anti-fur. Pamela Anderson wanted to rip my coat off me the other night.

DRE: Oh really?

DVT: Yeah. She was like How can you wear that fur around me? I was like Im sorry. Ill take it off. I threw it in the trash.

DRE: There are a lot of burlesque tours now, SuicideGirls included. Have you seen any of them?

DVT: I feel like Ive seen a lot of the neo burlesque scene and Ive seen some of the video of the SuicideGirls. Ive seen a lot of authentic burlesque footage too. The only thing Im offended by would be the medias use of the word burlesque to describe a style. I think troupes or clubs that have girls just dancing around in fishnets and hot pants is not burlesque. Burlesque was about the striptease. I hear all these quotes coming out of peoples mouths like Were classy. We dont take off our clothes. Im thinking How insulting to say that Gypsy Rose Lee was a slut because she was a stripper and she was the greatest stripper of all time. She was a mainstream star. She was as famous as any other star in that time in the 40s. She did do a striptease and she did show some skin. When I hear people using the word burlesque to describe doing booty shake dances to a vintage song, I get a little bit offended. Its like a red flag that they havent read anything about the history of burlesque.

DRE: Did you discover most of this on your own or did you have a mentor?

DVT: I started working in a strip club when I was 18 years old. By that time I was already dressing in vintage clothes and my hair was vintage style and I wore red lipstick. I was very interested in vintage-style pinup and dressing like Bettie Page. So I was already involved in this whole nostalgic, retro pinup thing. I immediately started reading about burlesque and wanting to know more about it. Thats how I developed my act. I met Dixie Evans, who runs the Exotic World Burlesque Museum that is now going to be in Vegas and some of the old time stars of burlesque. Then two years later I met my best friend Catherine D'Lish who was a burlesque performer who makes all my costumes now. After I met her, we started making big serious shows with props and more elaborate costumes. That was around 1993 and I was already on the cover of a lot of fetish magazines and I was touring the US and headlining strip clubs with my show.

DRE: I read that some people didnt think that your shows were fetish in the beginning.

DVT: In the very beginning I did Torture Garden and the Rubber Ball and I did a Feather Fan Dance. Some people were saying, Whats fetish about this? The funniest part is that now ten years later, all those clubs are all-burlesque all the time. But at first I did take a little bit of a beating in the fetish community because people didnt know why I was there and why I was performing with feather fans and rhinestones and feathers. They wanted to see latex and whips and everything. As for the SuicideGirls show, I think its really great that people take burlesque to another level. I dont feel like everyone should be doing burlesque the way I do it or the way it was done in the past. But I do feel that if youre going to perform it, dont discount the striptease. The SuicideGirls definitely do not discount the striptease. The only way that burlesque can really evolve and survive is if people bring something new to it and make it interesting for people. I think its important for people to have new ideas for shows and not just be stuck in the past.

DRE: Im no expert by far. Do you get completely naked in your shows or can you not because of the venues?

DVT: I have done shows completely nude because I did all these strip clubs when I first started headlining, but I always did it in a way where I left a little mystery. But really I only did that because people expected it of me because I was in strip clubs where the other girls were totally nude. In the past seven years or so Ive done it with pasties and a G-string. I just did a big charity event for the LA Lakers and there were kids there. I asked the promoter if I should tone it down. They were like, Nope. They know what theyre here to see.

DRE: Wow. So it went over fine?

DVT: Yes it did. Everybody wants what the other venue had. They dont want to get gypped. So they always want me to do the same show that I did at another party that they were at or something.

DRE: Have you seen the Bettie Page movie yet?

DVT: No, I havent but I feel like I should be getting a check any day for all the press Ive been doing on it. Ive been doing all these interviews and theyre showing clips of the movie and then talking to me about it. From the trailer it looks like Gretchen Mol did an amazing job. I do know that Bettie Page saw the movie and was not happy about it at all. I have lots of friends that were at the Playboy mansion when they showed the screening of it and she was basically hurling insults at the screen. But Im glad that people will know about Bettie Page a little more than they did before. Over the past 16 years Ive had people calling me Cleopatra and then suddenly when the E! channel did the story about Bettie Page, people were like Oh, Bettie Page. Its like the normal people of the world are going to be calling probably half of the SuicideGirls Bettie Pages now. Theyre all going to know who Bettie Page is. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, but I know how it feels.

DRE: Are you still into Bettie?

DVT: Yeah. Ive always been into her. We instantly recognize her with the black hair and the bangs. Her image was so amazing and it was really modern for the 1950s and I feel like it translates and can even look modern now. But to be honest though, my major influences are different. I have different people that I look to for inspiration but in the 90s I went through a period where I was very interested in Bettie Page and everything that she did. But for what I do and my performances, I usually look to 1940s film stars and song and dance girls. Im people that I might not necessarily be trying to look like. For me inspiration comes from finding out what the spirit of that person was and not so much trying to mimic what they were. When I think about why I love Bettie Page, I dont think so much about what she looks like and how she dressed, but why do we still care so much about her? She certainly wasnt the only one that was wearing those clothes and shooting bondage photos. She was one of hundreds of girls doing that. But there was something about her that made her unique and special. Looking at why that is, is whats more important than just looking at the aesthetic.

DRE: I was surprised to see that youre not in [Marilyn Mansons film] Phantasmagoria [The Visions of Lewis Carroll].

DVT: I really try to separate myself from the stuff that he does unless its completely and utterly appropriate. Unless theres the perfect part in the movie for me, then I dont think I should be in it. I want his movie to be as good as it can be so Im not begging him to write me a part into it. If the right part is in it, then Ill do it. But if not, then I dont mind either way. I dont think that just because Im his wife, he has to find a part for me in his movie. Ive done a few independent films and I have a few scripts that other people have written that are really exciting.

DRE: Like what?

DVT: One called The Black Dahlia Avenger, which is the true story of the Black Dahlia.

DRE: Do they have a director for that?

DVT: Yes, his name is William Eggleston III.

DRE: I guess hes related to the photographer William Eggleston.

DVT: Yep. Thats in the works and a couple of other interesting things. I love acting but I really would be happier being known for what I do. Id rather people know me for being a burlesque dancer and a pinup model than an actress. I dont feel any great desire to be known as an actress. But I enjoy it when the script is right and when its an interesting story. I dont really want to beat down Hollywoods doors for a TV show or a silly movie.

DRE: Here is some British gossip I read about you, are you considering getting more plastic surgery?

DVT: No. In fact I think I read the same thing where it said something like I want to stay hot for my husband so I get plastic surgery. Thats silly. I basically said what I feel about plastic surgery because everybody knows that I had my breasts done. Its no secret and why should it be a secret? Its like the last taboo to be liberated. People have been having plastic surgery for over 100 years. They were trying to reshape peoples noses in the late 1800s. I have about six books about beauty that were written between the 1920s and the1930s. They all talk about plastic surgery as an option. So I wouldnt put people down for having plastic surgery. I dont know why people are so afraid to admit what theyve had done especially when its so obvious sometimes. I was just saying that I would not judge anyone for having plastic surgery and I would never say never. Maybe 20 years from now I might say, Oh. Maybe a little more plastic surgery. But I havent had anything else done but my breasts. Ive been too scared to even get Botox even though I make jokes about getting it all the time.

I think Dita has done wonders for the modern world in terms of how she has brought burlesque to the front pages, and made it even trendy now to be elegantly sexy, as opposed to just out-there sexy... and I think there is a good place for both types of sexy.

I was really impressed that this article addressed Dita's implants and her views on plastic surgery, because a lot of women that work so hard to be icons just for how they look, will not or are afraid to own up to the things they've had modified. I also think it's important that people realize Dita does not wake up gorgeous and perfect, she works her ass off on her dancing, her figure, her make-up clothes and in the end she chose to have breast implants in order to heighten her illusion of perfection. Though I am personally not into the 'illusion' of beauty- I do greatly appreciate Dita's up-frontness about just how much of her beauty (and beauty today on magazines etc.) is a Farce.

I love SG beauce there are woman who ascribe to this farce, and there are woman who don't, and there are those who dance across both lines. To me beauty is the thing you wake up with in the morning, sans make-up, corsets and surgery... but I cannot help but admire dita and those like her, and I too of course enjoy dressing to the nine's once in a while.